Compare iRobot Roomba 960 and 675: What Are the Main Differences?

Roomba 960 in Action (Photo Credits: iRobot)

If you have decided to get an iRobot Roomba vacuuming robot and you are debating whether to get a Roomba 960 or a 675, you may find this article useful.

We will compare here Roomba 960 which is currently one of the top Roomba robots offered by iRobot and which comes with most features you'll ever need, and Roomba 675 which costs quite a bit less than Roomba 960, but still comes with those basic must-have features that every self respecting vacuuming robot should have such good floor coverage, avoiding stairs and obstacles, self-recharging and scheduling.​

Otherwise, please read on below for a detailed comparison of the above listed Roomba robots.

​Comparing Roomba 960 and 675

The following pictures show the Roomba 960 and 675 robots that will be compared below:

Roomba 960

Roomba 675

Detailed Comparison of Roomba 960 and 675

The following table compares the iRobot Roomba 960 and 675 robots.The (N.#) notation used in the table refers to the clarification notes provided following the table. Please read these notes carefullyin order to understand better the features that come with each Roomba. ​

Explanation of Notes 1 to 19 from Comparison Table:

​N. 1:

iAdapt technology found on Roomba 675 is composed of sophisticated software as well as sensors, and allows the robot to clean more thoroughly the room, making multiple passes, avoiding stairs, getting under and around furniture, and cleaning along wall edges and corners. The low profile design of the robot allows cleaning under most furniture. It also automatically adjusts to all floor types - carpet, tile, hardwood, laminate and more.

iAdapt 2.0 technology found on Roomba 960, features a visual localization camera used to map out your home in order to ensure complete coverage. It allows the robot to seamlessly and efficiently navigate an entire level of your home and keep track of its location. Roomba 960 uses a high-efficiency cleaning pattern and a full suite of sensors to adapt to real world clutter and furniture for thorough coverage.

​An important aspect of these robots is Dirt Detection:

Roomba 675 is equipped with acoustic sensors which allow the robot to find dirtier areas and spend more time cleaning them.

Roomba 960 comes with more sophisticated dirt detection ability. It is equipped with both acoustic and optical sensors, and therefore it is more powerful and effective in finding dirtier areas.

​Finally, note that Roomba 960 comes with one Dual Mode Virtual Wall Barrier which is a battery-run standalone little device used to control the robot's navigation. It can be used as a Virtual Wall to block off an open doorway, but it can also be used as a Virtual Wall Halo to protect some restricted area within the room, such as the area you where your dog's food is placed.Roomba 675 does not come with a Dual Mode Virtual Wall Barrier, but it is compatible with Virtual Walls and Dual Mode Virtual Wall Barriers. If desired a Dual Mode Virtual Wall Barrier or Virtual Wall can be obtained separately (see Amazon products section below).

​N. 2:Both Roomba robots considered here use a 3-stage vacuuming system described below :

Roomba 675 uses dual counter-rotating multi-surface brushes. One to loosen dirt and the other to pick it up. The brushes work together to grab and remove dirt, dust, hair, and large debris from your floors.Roomba 960 uses dual counter-rotating multi-surface tangle-free brushes (also known as debris extractors) that pick up dust, debris, dirt, pet hair from the floor. They grab and break down debris eliminating hair tangles and jams.

Both Roomba 960 and 675 use a spinning side brush that cleans along wall edges.

Finally, in both robots considered here, an efficient vacuum pulls dirt and hair off the brushes (or off the debris extractors) and directs it into the bin.​

AeroVac technology used by Roomba 675 allows for optimized airflow that pulls hair off the brushes and sends it into the bin. This allows the bin to fill more evenly requiring less frequent emptying of the bin.

AeroForce technology used by Roomba 960 introduces the debris extractors and delivers an ideal balance of vacuum suction and debris extraction: Tangle free extractors grab and break down debris eliminating hair tangles and jams, and an airflow accelerator creates a sealed channel that concentrates the airflow, sucking in more debris. Thanks to the high efficiency vacuum, the air power is increased more than 5 times in the 900 series robots compared to the 600 series robots.

​N. 3:Roomba 675 needs to be restarted after it recharges itself at its Home Base (unless of course it had previously been scheduled to restart at a later time). Roomba 960 is able to resume automatically the cleaning job where it was interrupted before going to Home Base to recharge. ​It continues this way until the job is done and the entire level of your home is cleaned!

​N. 4:When Roomba 960 and 675 are connected via Wi-Fi to your smartphone, you can use the iRobot Home App for Android and iOS to invoke remotely operations (such as cleaning, scheduling, etc.) from wherever you are, using your smartphone.​When the App is used with Roomba 960, you can also see the status of cleaning jobs, and you can customize your cleaning preferences (such as setting the number of cleaning passes, choosing special edge cleaning action, etc.).

Roomba 960 is equipped with AeroForce High Efficency filters that can capture 99% of allergens, pollen, and particles as small as 10 microns.

N. 6:Both Roomba robots considered here are equipped with a side brush to clean wall edges. But Roomba 960 features special edge cleaning action to make sure that stubborn dirt and debris along wall edges are all removed. After the robot finishes cleaning the open areas of your floor, it uses the Final Edge Clean feature to ensure that it has cleaned properly along walls and around furniture legs. If you prefer a quicker clean, you can disable Final Edge Clean from the App. Note tat this feature is turned on by default.

N. 7:When the bin gets full, Roomba 960 provides you with two options regarding the action to be taken by the robot:

Finish Job: Even if the bin is full, Roomba will continue cleaning until it has covered the entire space. Once the bin is emptied, Roomba is ready for a new cleaning job. The full bin behavior is “Finish Job” by default.

Pause Immediately: As soon as the bin is full, Roomba will return to where it started and pause its cleaning job. Once the bin is emptied, you just need to press CLEAN to resume.

The selection is done using the iRobot Home App.

N. 8:Roomba 960 is equipped with a visual localization camera that maps out more thoroughly your home in order to ensure complete coverage. It allows the robot to seamlessly and efficiently navigate an entire level of your home and keep track of its location. Note that for the camera functionality to work properly some light in the room where the robot will be vacuuming may be needed.

N. 9:Counter rotating multi-surface tangle-free brushes (known also as debris extractors) were introduced starting with 800 and 900 series Roomba robots, and they replaced the brushes found in the previous 600 series robots. They grab and break down debris, eliminating hair tangles and jams. Together with debris extractors, an airflow accelerator that creates a sealed channel that concentrates airflow, sucking in more debris was introduced.

N. 10:Scheduling can be pre-set up to 7 times per week. The robot starts vacuuming as soon as the scheduled time is reached.

N. 11:In most cases, Roomba robots will remove dirt and debris with just one pass over each area of your home. However, with Roomba 960, two-pass cleaning can be requested and can be particularly helpful in homes with pets or for periodic deep cleaning. The number of cleaning passes is one by default. This feature can be invoked from the App.

N. 12:When batteries run low, all Roomba robots return to their Home Base to dock and recharge.​Note that, Roomba 675 needs to be restarted after it recharges itself at its Home Base (unless of course it had been previously scheduled to restart at a later time). On the other hand, both Roomba 960 is able to resume automatically the cleaning job where it was interrupted before going to Home Base to recharge. It continue this way until the job is done and the whole level of your home is cleaned.

N. 13:Both Roomba robots considered here are equipped with a Home button that can be pressed to force the robot to dock at its Home Base. Of course, the robot will also go automatically to its Home Base when battery runs low.​N. 14:Both Roomba robots considered here can be asked to spot clean. When spot clean is invoked, the robot will spiral approximately 3 feet in diameter and then spiral back to where it started for an intense, localized clean for those quick fixes.

N. 15:Note that Lithium-Ion batteries are designed to provide longer cleaning sessions than Nickel Metal Hydride (Ni-MH) ​ batteries and last longer before needing to be replaced.​​Battery Run Times:

iRobot has specified the battery run time for Roomba 960 as 75 minutes. But, that is no problem since the robot will recharge automatically when the battery runs low and, once recharged, it will resume by itself the job where it was interrupted.

Roomba 675 features an updated software and can run up to 90 minutes, but it needs to be restarted to resume the job after an automatic recharge.

Note that run times can vary extensively depending on the amount of work the robot has to do to clean the floors. That is because different types of carpets, different floor plans and different amounts of dirt may require different amounts of effort from the robot and hence different amounts of ''juice'' from the battery. ​N. 16:Roomba 960 and 675 can be remotely controlled from your smartphone or tablet using the iRobot Home App. No explicit remote control device is provided. ​N. 17:Both Wi‐Fi connected Roomba robots considered here (Roomba 960 and 675) are now compatible with Amazon Alexa and the Google Assistant. Simply ask Alexa or the Google Assistant to start, stop, or dock your robot.

N. 18:The "d" in the dimensions refers to the diameter, and "h" to the height of the unit. All measurements are in inches.

N. 19:The 1-year limited warranty is on the robot. There is also a 6-month warranty on the battery.

​​Roomba Navigation Control Devices

Roomba 960 comes with one Dual Mode Virtual Wall Barrier which is a battery-run standalone little device used to control the robot's navigation. It can be used as a Virtual Wall to block off an open doorway, but it can also be used as a Virtual Wall Halo to protect some restricted area within the room, such as the area you where your dog's food is placed.Roomba 675 does not come with a Dual Mode Virtual Wall Barrier, but it is compatible with Virtual Walls and Dual Mode Virtual Wall Barriers. If desired a Dual Mode Virtual Wall Barrier or Virtual Wall can be obtained separately (see Amazon products section below).

The following picture explains and illustrates how the Dual Mode Virtual Wall Barrier protects the off-limits areas:

(Photo Credits: iRobot)

​So which Roomba should you get?

Roomba robots are high quality products as shown by the average rating of at least 4.5 stars (out of 5 stars) each of the Roomba robots considered here had received from Amazon customers at the time this article was written. Though, as the above comparison table shows, the two Roomba robots considered here come with some similar features, Roomba 960 comes with some additional features not found on Roomba 675 and summarized below:

It uses camera based visual localization which helps the robot seamlessly and efficiently navigate an entire level of your home and keep track of its location (note that for the camera functionality to work properly some light in the room where the robot will be vacuuming is needed).

It uses a high-efficiency cleaning pattern and a full suite of both acoustic and optical sensors to adapt to real world clutter and furniture for thorough coverage.

It has the capability, after it recharges itself at Home Base, to resume operation automatically where it had been interrupted. So, if you have large areas in your home that require the robot to recharge multiple times, and you don't want to bother with having to restart the robot after each recharge, you might want to consider either the 960, as it is capable of completing the job without human interference, except for emptying the bin when it gets full. And even if the bin gets full, and for some reason you aren't available to empty it, the robot will continue vacuuming until the entire space is covered and the job is finished, unless you have requested from the App to stop vacuuming at full bin.

Also keep in mind that an important difference between Roomba 675 and Roomba 960 is that Roomba 960 uses the more powerful AeroForce vacuuming technology with debris extractors. It also has better dirt detection ability, a full-bin indicator and a more efficient filter.

​While Roomba 960 comes with the additional features listed above that may be very useful in larger homes, for the average smaller home, Roomba 675 may be quite sufficient. Though it is less powerful than Roomba 960 which uses the AeroForce vacuuming technology, Roomba 675 does support the basic but important features, such avoiding stairs, self-recharging, smartphone control and scheduling.​

You will find in the Amazon products section that follows both Roomba robots compared above which you can click for exact price information or to purchase:

Roomba 960 and 675 on Amazon

Please click the Amazon link image below for the Roomba robot of your choice to see exact price information or to purchase.

Roomba 960

Roomba 675

​Authentic Roomba Replenishment Kits on Amazon USA

Accessories and replacement parts manufactured by 3rd parties may have a negative impact on product performance and can cause damage to your robot. Always ensure that replacement parts such as batteries, filters, and brushes are Authentic iRobot Parts. Note also that the use of 3rd party replacement parts could void your robot's warranty.Please click the images below to see price information or to purchase:

Authentic Roomba 900 Series Replenishment Kit

Authentic Roomba 600 Series Replenishment Kit

​Additional Dual Mode Virtual Wall Barriers on Amazon

Additional Dual Mode Virtual Wall Barriers can be purchased below:​

Roomba Dual Mode Virtual Wall Barrier

​​Have you not found yet what you were looking for?Global Amazon Search

If you have not found what you are looking for among the above offerings, you can still search for it or for ANY OTHER PRODUCT you may need by clicking below and searching for what you need on Amazon.com: